Friday, December 12, 2008

If you were given a chance to pick characters for your dream match, who would it be? you know what I mean, picking two of your favorite comics, anime, movie or video game characters to duke it out to the death to see who's the best of the bestWell all of us have our own wish list of dream matches, from the simple to the exaggerating matches, then we asked ourselves; when will we ever see this kind of matches?

Thank God for video games, they make the best things possiblenow we can relive all of our dream matches over and over againso without further adieu, let me introduce you to the world of Video Game Crossovers

So what's a Video Game Crossover?

Video Game Crossover (or Xover) is a gaming crossover that occurs when fictional characters, stories, settings, universes, or media in a video game meet and interact with each other(may it be a guest cameo or a playable character). These may exist as a gimmick if two separate games in question are developed by the same company. Otherwise, they may exist as a gag from a rival company.

Many types of genres are being used on gaming crossovers, this include RPGs (from the traditional to the turn based tactical),the action/platform ones and the most common and most popular of them all: fighting genres

Video game crossovers have several kinds of crossovers that have spawn thru the years and they are:

1st party (Interfranchise) video game crossovers - games in which the crossovers are within the same company.Examples: Dissidia: Final Fantasy(Square-Enix), Super Smash Bros. series (Nintendo), Warriors Orochi (Toei), Marel Ultimate Alliance (Marvel Comics/Activision), Justice League Heroes (DC Comics/Warner Bros. Interactive)

3rd party (Intrafranchise) video game crossovers - games which have crossovers from two or more separate companies.Examples: Namco x Capcom, SNK vs. Capcom

Comic book/video games crossovers - Video games that have comic book franchise characters encountering or facing off against other comic book franchise characters or third-party video game characters in a crossover video game or as a guest character in a third-party video game.Examples: Marvel vs. Capcom, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

Cartoon/video game crossovers - Video games that have cartoon franchise characters encountering or facing off against other cartoon franchise characters or video game characters in a crossover video game or as a guest character in a third-party video game.Examples: Kingdom Hearts series

Manga/anime crossovers - Video games that have manga franchise characters or anime franchise characters encountering or facing off against other manga or anime franchise characters in a crossover video game.Examples: Jump Superstars, Super Robot Wars series

Why make a Video Game Crossover?

There's two reasons for it: as a gift for the fans and to make a truce with rival companies.

A gift for the fans

Companies like Capcom and Square-Enix knows how to show their love to their fans, by making a game where their favorite characters beat the hell out of each other till one of them screams uncle. This is also another cheap and easy way for game developers to cash in from the fans when they're running out of ideas for a new game.

There are also chances that the developers will add characters from their previous games, where some of them are not that famous, to give them a chance to be spotlighted once more.

To make a truce with rival companies

The greatest thing that a crossover game can do is to promote good will with game developers, especially on rival companies and developers, some good examples are Capcom/SNK and Nintendo/Sega. Ninetendo and Sega were arch rivals for the past decade in the gaming industry, while Mario (Nintendo) is gaining the upper hand, Sonic (Sega) is quickly losing its touch in the console wars. But they managed to join forces for an Olympic video game in multiple consoles. In the realm of fighting games, Capcom and SNK are the two companies that reign supreme, they've also been at each other's throat for quite some time. They finally settled their differences when they merged to create Capcom Vs. SNK.

Does this really made an impact on gamers?

Yes, It really made an impact on gamers, as this gave them a chance to pick for their favorite characters in a battle against or alongside another of their favorites. And not just characters, new mechanics and gameplay has been added (like the now famous "Tag" system of the Capcom Vs. series) to make the game more interesting.

So what's next for the Gaming Crossover?

Well more games are being released as of now, like the Castlevania fighting game; Castlevnia Judgement for the Nintendo Wii from Konami where you can relive the classic Castlevania characters again and again.

Square-Enix is also releasing a fighting game based on the Final Fantasy seires called Dissidia: Final Fantasy for the Playstaion Portable, with a mix of fighting and RPG gameplay.

Midway also joined the crossover craze with their latest game: Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe.This is the first crossover game that Midway created a with DC Comics,it may be similar that to Capcom Vs. Marvel, but this time with Fatalities. Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe is available in the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360.

And finally Capcom just released the spiritual successor to the famous Capcom Vs. series called Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom for the arcades and Nintendo Wii where legendary anime characters of Tatsunoko (Gatchaman and Tekkaman) duke it out against the elites of Capcom (Ryu (Street fighter) and Batsu (Rival Schools) .

And more and more crossover games will come out in the future, the question is...what kind of crossover can the developers will offer to us?hmmm a Sony vs. Nintendo vs. Microsoft fighting game would be nice ^^